Richard Branson, complete with butterfly wings, prepares at the start of the Virgin London Marathon in Blackheath

In the first year of Virgin sponsoring the London Marathon, Richard Branson took to the course dressed as a butterfly, while his children Holly and Sam formed part of a ‘human caterpillar’ made of 34 runners bound together with bungee cords – in an attempt to beat the record for the most people to finish a marathon while tied together.

Also part of the caterpillar was Princess Beatrice, 21, who was aiming to become the first royal to complete the route.

Princess Beatrice, aiming to be the first royal to complete the course, was running as part of a 34-person human caterpillar

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay was running his 11th marathon in 11 years, alongside his wife Tara, who had already run three half marathons in three weeks. ‘I feel for the first time in 10 years I’m going to get my arse kicked,’ Ramsay predicted.

In the serious side of the race, the elite athletes’ race saw Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia winning the men’s race for the first time, to end a six-year winning streak for Kenyan runners, while Liliya Shobukhova led home a Russian one-two in the women’s race.

Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede crosses the line to win the men’s elite racein the 2010 London Marathon

And the elite wheelchair races were won by Canada’s Josh Cassidy in the men’s, while the women’s race was won by Japan’s Tsuchida Wakako.

Elsewhere, silly costumes were the order of the day – and saw records tumbling.

Emmerdale actor Tony Audenshaw was the fastest celebrity to finish – and also set the record for the fastest ever runner dressed as a baby. He said: ‘It means everything to me. It’s great to be the fastest celebrity and also to break a Guinness World Record. You can forget about the 100m record, this is the record people are interested in, the world’s fastest baby in a marathon.’

A runner dressed as a gingerbread man near the start of the Marathon

Meanwhile 42-year-old David Ross from Sutton finished in three hours, seven minutes and 34 seconds while dressed as Fred Flintstone and brandishing an inflatable club – earning him the title of fastest cartoon character. The City sales account manager, who was running his 175th marathon, said: ‘I got a bit tired saying “Yabba Dabba Doo.”‘

The fastest runner dressed as an animal was Kevin Robins, coming home in three hours, 30 minutes and one second while dressed as tiger. The 33-year-old from Sevenoaks said he was racing against a lobster who was also going for the record, and had feared the lobster would overtake him right at the end.

Comedian Russell Howard looked rather the worse for wear after finishing in four hours 15 minutes. Asked if he would do it again, he said: ‘No, definitely not.’